This Book Will Save Your Life

by A M Homes

A medical emergency forces wealthy loner, Richard Novak, to reconnect with the outside world. He is assisted along the way by a bizarre range of characters from a maker of perfect doughnuts to the son he never knew. A gentle satire on the neurotic, macrobiotic, wheat-free world where nobody walks if they can afford gym membership - this book is funny, warm, and wise.

Extract

His ex-wife runs a company that publishes life-style and self-improvement books, books that tell you how to live, what to do based on what sign, blood type, or colour you are, coffee-table books on living simply and how to find time if you have no time and what to do if none of the above applies.
Over the two-way radio he heard the paramedics communicating with the hospital, calling in a Code Orange.
'What's Orange?'
'Celebrity,' the nurse said. 'They let us know so we can be on the lookout for photographers-sometimes the photo guys get here before the patient. The worst is a dead celeb, that's the money shot. Any photo of a celeb covered in blood is worth thousands.'